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In the introduction, Wistrich provides an overview asking the big Why. He disagrees with Daniel Goldhagen, pointing out that prior to 1933 antisemitism had been worse in countries like Russia, Romania, Poland and Austria and that the rule of law applied in Germany until that year. The Holocaust was a pan-European event in which millions of people participated. The times were evil; even Britain and the USA experienced a rising tide of antisemitism. Unimaginable horror results when a society does not distinguish between good & evil. The lessons of this abyss are that evil must be resisted in its early stage and that individuals are responsible for their actions.

The first chapter briefly reviews Jewish history from the Hasmoneans to the Roman yoke in which era a new religion was born. Its foundational documents contain calumnies and demonizations of the Jewish People. The "Church Fathers" perpetuated this hostility in their writings; the victory of Constantine Christianity ensured ever increasing oppression. Martin Luther amplified the hatred in his writings. This chapter also covers Europe in the 1930s as night was coming on. Wistrich also considers various atrocities and genocides like that of the Armenians, the Gulags of Stalinist Russia and the suffering of the Roma.

Disillusionment in Europe after the First World War was profound. The pointless death & destruction spurred the growth of revolutionary movements like fascism and communism. The history of Austria and Germany in the 1920s & 1930s, Mein Kampf, the political parties & the reaction to Jewish refugees arriving from Eastern Europe are discussed. The depression hit Germany in 1930; that year the Nazi vote increased dramatically. In 1933 Hitler took power and German Jews started leaving.

The destruction of Crystal Night followed, the most violent attack on Jews since the crusades; 100 people were murdered. The international conference held at Evian in France encouraged Hitler since he noticed it was all talk; no country was prepared to welcome Jewish refugees. The discriminatory racial laws did not encounter resistance from any sector of German society. The German annexation of half of Poland in 1939 and the later invasion of Russia placed millions more Jews under Nazi rule. Terrible massacres occurred on the front.

Hitler's apocalypticism was a blend of Christian and anti-Christian Judeophobia, a secular salvationist ideology. He referred to New Testament passages during his speeches in Catholic Bavaria, saw himself as a messianic figure and claimed that Christ had pioneered the struggle against the Jews. Thus in the early years the Nazis mined the ancient vein of Christian Antisemitism. Only the Confessional Church openly defied the Nazis and in the 1937 Encyclical "Mit Brennende Sorge" Pope Pius XI objected to Nazi supremacism and paganism. Nazism co-existed with the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches but its bestial heart harbored contempt for Judeo-Christian values and ethics. Leading Nazis were fanatically anti-Christian. As the evidence of atrocities accumulated, including reports from Croatia & Slovakia, the Vatican's reaction was muted. It still viewed Jews as representing its modernist enemies like liberalism, freemasonry, secularism, etc.

Chapter 6 was almost unbearable, were it not for the exceptions where the Angel of the Lord must have drawn his sword or the Spirit moved the hearts of the people. Collaboration - particularly cruel in countries like Ukraine, Romania and Slovakia - occurred throughout Europe. Jews were safe in Hungary until March 1944 when the Germans invaded. Despite the efforts of especially Calvinists, more than 80% of Holland's Jews were deported to Poland. Belgium fared better - people deliberately undermined the German efforts but 44% was lost. In the areas controlled by the collaborationist Vichy Regime, French Jews were protected to an extent but not recent arrivals. In 1942 the Germans occupied all of France. I'm not sure if Wistrich mentions it, but General Franco of Spain accepted refugees.

In this demonic darkness of indifference, hostility & complicity with the Nazis, there were three areas where the divine light was not extinguished. Protection was provided in the north, east & south of Europe. Bulgaria was a German ally but the people, never antisemitic, stood firm: King, government, civil society and church! Orthodox Metropolitan Stephan of Sofia declared that men had no right to persecute Jews, whilst the King supplied many reasons why its citizens could not leave. Denmark saved almost its entire Jewish community by ferrying them across to Sweden. Of course the proximity & willingness of Sweden made it possible. In their absence, Danes tended their homes & gardens and cared for their pets. Finland flatly refused German demands. Italians openly sabotaged the Holocaust; the Italian army shielded and protected Jews in places like France, Croatia, Albania and Greece. Later when the Germans invaded, Italians hid and protected Jews to a degree unseen anywhere else but in the aforementioned countries.

One recognizes the sacrifice of Britain & Americans whose soldiers fought and died, but these countries do not have clean hands. First, they instituted restrictive immigration policies. At that time, the American Jewish community was weak, divided and afraid of antagonizing its fellow citizens. The worst action of Roosevelt was turning away the ocean liner St Louis with its Jewish refugees. Back in Germany they were all murdered. Perhaps even worse from the quantity angle, the UK established quotas for Jewish immigration to the Levant. Not only that, but the British navy intercepted refugee ships en route to the homeland, and that under Churchill! It is incomprehensible. Moron me who thought the Prime Minister had more authority than the State Department. So in the Atlantic Anglo-Saxon sphere political hypocrisy and heartless bureaucracy triumphed over mercy.

Sensitive people beware! The final chapter, on modernity and genocide, evaluates various theories and provides examples of sadism and torture in the death camps. One can skip it, just reading the last two pages which are safe. Wistrich concludes that the Holocaust was inspired by a millenarian apocalyptic ideology of annihilation that cannot be separated from the dominant religious tradition of Western Europe. But unlike Christianity, Nazism was a death cult that saw human sacrifice as the road to redemption. The book contains maps, notes arranged by chapter, 3 timeline charts covering 1933 - 1945, and an index.

Wistrich does a wonderful job of condensing information about a huge topic into a very useful small volume. It doesn't go into a huge amount of detail about every aspect of the Holocaust or the anti-semitism leading up to it, but it is a great book for beginners, particularly high school or college undergraduates looking for an introduction to this horrible subject.
As the previous reviewer said, Wistrich does do a wonderful job of documenting his sources and I too got a lot of further reading and research ideas from this book.

This interesting book by Robert Wistrich is an attempt to concentrate on the question as to why the Nazis placed so much emphasis on the extermination of the European Jews, often when doing so meant endangering the other goals they were surging toward during the conduct of the war. The author, of course, understands that the whole of the national Socialist movement sprang from the discontent and absurd racism of the Volkist history of the Reich, much of it dating back centuries. From the time Germany was forged out of the crucible of Prussia and its environs, the collection of Germanic peoples looked for those unifying themes that would untie them as distinct people and extend to them the greatness that had so eluded them and their culture. Given their history of cultural insecurity, it seems as no surprise that an entity like the Jews had to found and scapegoated to justify their grandiloquent dreams.

As the author points out (and as others such as Lucy Dawidowicz so famously in "The War Against The Jews'), this scapegoating effort was no only an expediency arising from the discontent and chaos of the Weimar years after World War One, but also a deep-seated cultural tradition extending back hundreds if not thousands of years. Indeed, questions regarding Jewish claims to citizenship had been hotly debated both officially and unofficially every place from the many legislative forums to the floors of the local pubs as long as anyone could recall. There was nothing new or novel about German prejudice against and antipathy for the Jews. And as he adds so succinctly, this was (and indeed is) a problem extending far beyond German borders. After all, we do well to remember that most European countries turned their backs on the problems of the Jewish émigrés attempting by the thousands to flee the coming horror in Nazi Germany. Indeed, many such as the Swiss and the French cooperated in handing over indigenous Jews to the German authorities during the war.

Moreover, the climate of blind indifference extended to the pulpits of the clergy, as well, and persistent rumors claim that the Pope himself was cognizant of the plight of the German and other European Jews and did little if anything to intercede. In fat, this book provides a yeoman's service by articulating and discussing a number of salient and competing interpretations, ranging from Daniel Goldhagen's controversial thesis enunciated in "Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust" to Christopher Browning's thesis as expounded in several recent books (see my reviews of both authors' works). Wistrich also recapitulates the differences between the so-called "intentionalist' and "functionalist' theories of the Holocaust, and as I have written elsewhere, I believe that while the evidence indicates a functional approach, I also believe that the same evidence is consistent with the idea that Hitler and the Nazis always intended to exterminate the Jews (along with all of the indigenous populations of the conquered territories to the east). All the functional argument really proves, as far as I can see, is that existential circumstances played into the execution of a standing policy which was a virtual cornerstone of Nazi social policy.

As someone professionally educated as a sociologist, I was fascinated by the author's discussion of the meaning of the Holocaust in terms of history, and the question as to whether or not it represented the "antithesis of Western Civilization" or its realization. This treads very close to a searing indictment made by sociologist Max Weber of the eventual drift of rationalism as practiced in western societies toward a kind of non-thinking and non-substantive form of the rational impulse, a shadow which contented itself with the forms and practices of rationalism but none of its intent and rigor. To the extent he was correct that such a society would become an "iron cage" imprisoning man and endangering everything good that he stood for, perhaps Mr. Wistrich is onto something here. Enjoy!

Although some might say this is good for introduction to Holocaust study, I'm not convinced it succeeds on that level as it should. First, the title was a bit misleading. I expected it to focus on Hitler's involvement in the Holocaust, yet there is little discussion of Hitler compared to what other angles the book delves into. I also thought that jumping to different issues, it is not focused enough to be effective as a whole as compared to other books that might be longer in reading but you come away with much more understanding. Too much is just touched upon, but not conveyed. I found "Auschwitz" by Deborah Dwork and Robert Van Pelt to give a much clearer perspective than what I read here, and it's not that much longer than this.

And I think, contrary to the author, that the entire extermination of the slavic population was practical for the Nazi's and it did serve a major ideological agenda. From reading Hitler's "table talk," it seemed to me like that was the future plan.

Also, the author says that "When Himmler instructed Rudolf Hoss to establish the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, the reason given was expressly ideological; the need to extirpate the biological roots of Jewry." In something as serious as this, I think it's important that every fact is presented where there can be no confusion- otherwise, if they learn otherwise, it can cause problems. This would lead me to believe that Auschwitz was erected at the time of this talk with Himmler, when actually, the talk with Himmler happened in 1941, and Hoss had been camp commandant since 1940- and that Auschwitz was first established as a labor camp and turned INTO a death camp for the purpose of extirpating the biological roots of Jewry." that might be nitpicking on my part and it could be said that the Birkenau addition implies the time, but since the Nazi's crime is so terrible, every word is important, every sentence is a voice from the Holocaust crying out, so you have to make sure everything is clearly said. That's what I think, anyway.

This is a good book, but something like "Never Again" by Martin Gilbert might be a better introduction than this,

As the previous reviewers have already noted, this is a great book defining how the Holocaust happened in one of the most civilized nations in Europe. Wistrich notes the rise of anti Semitism in Germany and the rest of Europe during the ninetenth and twentieth centuries. Even though thousands of German Jews gave their lives in the trench warfare on the Western Front during World War II, the Nazis blamed the Jews for the stab in the back.
In this book, Hitler's main aim was to rid Eurpe of all its Jews. His goal continued despite setbacks on the fighting fronts. Hungarian Jews were murdered up to the closing months of the war, even though Germany was in the process of being defeated. Germany's loss was also blamed on the Jews.
Wistrich gives us a scholarly analysis of why the Jews were selected, how the lack of solidarity in the Jewish population helped the Nazis kill their victims, and why the Western Allies did little to stop the killing. As Wistich states, other genocides in later years just shows how little has changed in the history of genocide. A minority group is selected for the blame of something, and revenge is exacted.
This is a great scholarly read for why the Holocaust happened. It places Hitler front and center in one of the greatest crimes of all time.

Jack Mitchell is truly inspirational in so many ways. With "Hug Your Customers" and now, "Hug Your People", he has proven to be a master of observation and implementation in the retail and corporate world on both the business side and, more importantly, the human side as it relates to customers AND employees. This is a MUST-READ for anyone who wants to help their employees aspire to new heights and reach their full potential.

I enjoyed this book and it's numerous tips and tales.

I also appreciate the focus on how to treat and engage employees, especially because they are foundation to customer happiness (Jack's other book called Hug Your Customers: The Proven Way to Personalize Sales and Achieve Astounding Results is about that).

This is an easy to read book and great for sharing with your boss, your workplace and your friends.

I'm a career retailor and always read what our industry stars have to say. The Mitchells always share all of they're extemly successfull business practices. Not everything they do can always be adapted but there are always things to think about. This book is no exception!

Jack's new book is a reminder of just how important it is to serve those we lead by encouraging their heart. It's not about fancy programs, but a simple commitment to build genuine relationships with our coworkers by recognizing their needs and valuing thier contributions, large and small, each and every day. Thanks Jack, and many hugs to you for "leading the way" and sharing the many practical and effective examples in your latest MUST READ!

K Martin - President/CEO, Signature Custom Cabinetry, Inc.

Jack Mitchell once again offers insightful, sound and excellent business advice. His ideas are thought provoking and yet practical enough to easily adapt within an organization. Interacting in business, whether with customers or employees, with respect, trust and appreciation will help to differentiate any organization. "Hug Your People" should be kept as a handy reference guide on every manager's desk.
Dr. John A. Davis
Faculty Chair, Families in Business Program
Harvard Business School

This is a good book for my 4th grade son. It is hard to find books on his reading level that hold his interest. The narator of the story is Hank the cowdog (also self proclaimed head of ranch security). The chapters are only 3 or 4 pages and give my son a sense of accomplishment for being able to read a couple of chapters each night.
Hank also has a few pronuciation problems, allowing the young reader to identify correct pronunciation and grammer. The stories are interesting and funny and have really improved my son's interest in reading as well as his grades in reading and language skills.

I love all the Hank books, and this is a great one for the Christmas season. These books are hilarious and more important to the young reader, fun to read. I'd also check the rest of the series.

Author of "Hobo Finds A Home" editor "Of A Predatory Heart"

Hank is a simple story, probably good for 8-12 year olds, but it is quite well done. The author does not glorify Hank. He shows his strengh and weaknesses in a well balanced way so that we see Hank's arrogance, stupidity, good-heartedness, "dog-heartedness," his judgement and misjudgements of the world, all coming together in a nice, sweet story.

I particularly like the humor in the book. A couple of examples:

1. Hank is mindful of his hygiene. He takes baths regularly in the septic tank.

2. When Hank goes exploring and needs a place to spend the night, he says,

"I started looking for a place to hole up. In my travels and research I've discovered that one of the best places to hole up for the night is in a hole, so I started hunting for a hole."

It was a funny book.When Hank goes to his sister's house he gets into a fight with a cat.It was a funny book.

Hank The Cowdog it's a dogs life is a funny book. Drover
tells Hank it's the end of the world
but when Hank gets the calendar he finds
out that it's not the end of the world
it's really the end of the clearance sale
so he was tricked by a cat. I give
Hank the Cowdog five stars

Hank The Cowdog it's a dogs life is a funny book. Drover
tells Hank it's the end of the world
but when Hank gets the calendar he finds
out that it's not the end of the world
it's really the end of the clearance sale
so he was tricked by a cat. I give
Hank the Cowdog five stars

Picture a story involving a snarl of relatives and lovers tangled in a web of misunderstandings. If tragedy ensues, you have your standard soap opera. If, on the other end, the results are more comic, you have a P.G. Wodehouse novel. I can't really judge soaps, but it's probably safe to say that they range from good to bad. With Wodehouse, however, the quality is almost always dead-on-great, and never more so than with his Jeeves and Wooster stories, as Joy in the Morning once again demonstrates.

As the novel opens, Bertie Wooster has just emerged from being in the soup once again. What this soup was and how he escaped it is the story that follows. In this case, Bertie is coerced into going to one of his least favorite places, Steeple Bumpleigh, home to his dread Aunt Agatha. (Is there a more terrifying figure in comic fiction than Agatha?) Her husband, Bertie's Uncle Percival, needs Bertie to participate in a ruse that will help cinch a business deal. It is not a job that Bertie relishes, and the only the assurance of Aunt Agatha's absence allows him to screw up the courage to make the trip.

Of course, there are complications. For one thing, Percival's ward Nobby has fallen for Boko Fittleworth, and while the love is mutual, Percival - whose consent is needed for their marriage - has nothing but loathing for Boko. A scheme is needed to win over Percival, and Bertie will be recruited to play a part. Also at Steeple Bumpleigh is Florence Craye, an ex-fiancee of Bertie's who is now engaged to the easily jealous policeman, Stilton Cartwright. An argument and a misunderstanding will find her re-betrothed to Bertie and him a target of Stilton's wrath.

Bertie is a well-meaning but not-so-bright fellow who tends to get into trouble through accident and the manipulation of others. Left alone, life would be easy, but there are too many who force Bertie's involvement. Fortunately, there is his valet, Jeeves, who is able to solve nearly any problem.

The joy of reading a Jeeves and Wooster novel is Bertie's delightful narration with its unique enhancements to the English language. This is a book that is pure fun with no great insights or deep characters. It may be fluff, but it is five-star fluff and a great diversion.

This is a great, funny book. It may be my favorite Jeeves & Wooster story.

It's a given that Wodehouse's plots are completely outlandish or, in the words of another reviewer, like musical comedies. And yet somehow I have found a certain plausibility or coherence within the outlandishness of other of his books, such that I was more than willing to suspend my disbelief. In this case, I felt that the plot devices were weaker than usual, however, and in fact it took me a while to get through this one as a result.

The basic plot elements have been summarized elsewhere, but I will give one example of what I mean, to wit: Bertie's uncle by marriage, Uncle Percy, stands opposed to the marriage of his ward, Nobby, to one Boko Fittleworth. The plan to get Uncle to change his mind involves Bertie verbally assaulting him, to the point where the uncle must be "rescued" by Boko, who just happens to be in the vicinity (outside the uncle's study, for example). Uncle P. will then realize what an upstanding chap our Boko is.

Even within Bertie's cocooned world, this is weak, nor is it the lone instance of evidence that Wodehouse was not at his peak with this one. Still, he does charm readers as usual with Bertie's commentaries, a brilliant mix of goofy slang and highbrow poetic references, often in the same sentence. For better stories, I would recommend "Leave It To PSmith" (5 stars) or "Pigs Have Wings" (4 stars).

Joy in the Morning, also published under the name of Jeeves in the Morning, is perhaps the best of the Bertie and Jeeves novels. I can think of no higher praise for any book.

All the elements for a successful Bertie and Jeeves novel are here: love affairs go off the rails, imperiling Bertie's status as a bachelor; Bertie's actions to right things fail; and Jeeves comes to the rescue. In addition, there are some special features: Bertie's Uncle Percival, Lord Worplesdon, the second husband of Bertie's Aunt Agatha (the one who, as I recall, "chews ground glass and conducts human sacrifices at the full moon") makes his only appearance in the Wodehouse oeuvre, as I believe is also the case for Boko Fittleworth, whose actions go awry just as often as Bertie's.

It's all held together, of course, by Bertie's extraordinary narration.

I have read this book perhaps a dozen times, and I still laugh aloud at least once on nearly every page.

P.G. Wodehouse could write a phonebook and make it brilliant. But this story is so incredibly good that words fail me. He weaves farce upon satire upon mystery upon suspense upon hilarious premise and delightful payoff until the reader is dizzy with laughter and awe. The usual suspects are here: Bertie Wooster and his butler, Jeeves, plus frightening debutants, pompous authority figures, shrill relatives, troublesome children, and yet another pleasant English country village...pleasant, that is, until Bertie & Co. come along. Wodehouse was the absolute master of the English language, of humor, and plot construction. This book is as good an example of his mastery as there is. My only regret is that the reading experience passes by too quickly.

Another great story from Terri Blackstock. I tend to stick to Christian authors because I enjoy the content. This book was no different. Terri can shape the characters into anything she desires. This book is full of romance, suspense and intrigue. A who-done-it that will keep you on the edge of your seat. I have now read all the books in this series. I am waiting patiently for another one of her fantastic stories. Thanks Terri.

Another Teri Blackstock goodie! This has a different twist from the beginning that is enjoyable. I am a Mary Higgins Clark fan and have found Teri Blackstock to be a comparable author and story teller. I especially appreciate her Christian perspective. It is not overwhelming but realistic about how real Christians live their lives. They are not super people who never have problems but real folks who deal with their problems through their faith in Christ.

I bought this book for my Mom as a Christmas gift. She read the book in two days and absolutely loved it!! She now has 2 books from this series and can't wait to get the other ones!!

"Justifiable Means," the second book in Terri Blackstock's four-volume "Sun Coast Chronicles," is a superb page-turning thriller... perhaps her best novel I've read so far (although everything she writes is great). Given the opportunity, I would rate this book worthy of TEN stars! And, while this suspenseful work is as good as any of the top-ranked authors of this genre (and better than most), Ms. Blackstock's ability to skillfully weave into her stories her strong Christian faith, makes it all the more special. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! --Ron Howe (a.k.a. Toby Martin II) / Erskine, Minnesota.

Terri Blackstock is a master story weaver. Her characters are believable and she keeps you glued to the pages until the very last one.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee elaborately describes the struggles and obstacles that she had to overcome to become a successful and outstanding athlete and person. Her book is filled with emotions that the reader can intially relate to. Her life was filled with adversity and proves that a strong and self-determined person can triumph regardless of depressing and self-destructing obstacles that may stand in your way. Jackie, who is portrayed through the media to be "Superwoman" is really more human and down to the earth than most of the world. Life for Jackie was not always "peaches and cream." She was born and raised in East St. Louis, which was not known as a very safe place at the time. A reporter once suggested to Jackie that she should not tell people where she was from cause it might destroy her image. This event, however, made Jackie appreciate her hometown even more. You cannot put into words why this woman is thought of as superb. She went from rock bottom to soaring to the unlimited top. With the help of this book, Jackie's title as "The World's Greatest Female Athlete" has been justified.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee elaborately describes the struggles and obstacles that she had to overcome to become a successful and outstanding athlete and person. Her book is filled with emotions that the reader can intially relate to. Her life was filled with adversity and proves that a strong and self-determined person can triumph regardless of depressing and self-destructing obstacles that may stand in your way. Jackie, who is portrayed through the media to be "Superwoman" is really more human and down to the earth than most of the world. Life for Jackie was not always "peaches and cream." She was born and raised in East St. Louis, which was not known as a very safe place at the time. A reporter once suggested to Jackie that she should not tell people where she was from cause it might destroy her image. This event, however, made Jackie appreciate her hometown even more. You cannot put into words why this woman is thought of as superb. She went from rock bottom to soaring to the unlimited top. With the help of this book, Jackie's title as "The World's Greatest Female Athlete" has been justified.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee elaborately describes the struggles and obstacles that she had to overcome to become a successful and outstanding athlete and person. Her book is filled with emotions that the reader can intially relate to. Her life was filled with adversity and proves that a strong and self-determined person can triumph regardless of depressing and self-destructing obstacles that may stand in your way. Jackie, who is portrayed through the media to be "Superwoman" is really more human and down to the earth than most of the world. Life for Jackie was not always "peaches and cream." She was born and raised in East St. Louis, which was not known as a very safe place at the time. A reporter once suggested to Jackie that she should not tell people where she was from cause it might destroy her image. This event, however, made Jackie appreciate her hometown even more. You cannot put into words why this woman is thought of as superb. She went from rock bottom to soaring to the unlimited top. With the help of this book, Jackie's title as "The World's Greatest Female Athlete" has been justified.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee's autobiography is everything a biography should be, well-written, entertaining, and deeply moving. Unlike many celebrity bios that center around events, primarily ones that reflect well on the author, Jackie's book is people-centered and equally honest about her struggles as well as her triumphs. She writes with love and admiration about many people who have touched her life both in big and small ways. It is not hard to see why Jackie became the woman and athlete that she is. This book could have just as easily been titled "The World's Greatest Role Model for Young People."

A Kind of Grace is an excellent book. I think everyone should read it. It gave me a whole new look on life and how to appreciate everything I have. It also gave me inspiration to work hard at track. Now I have the heart and determination to train, lift weights, and practice, practice, practice. So everyone please buy and read this wonderful book, A Kind of Grace.

The is good book that reads in many places like a sermon. There are some nice chapters on discipline, but methods of discipline are not really spoken of. The fact that discipline is needed is heavily emphasized. The important thing about this book is that Farrar drives home his point that the fathers role is important in the life of the son.

In this day and age of questionable influences on a young man, the father needs to be equipped to nurture his son into manhood.

This is a must read for any father. Steve does an excellent job of covering the difficult subjects that fathers need to discuss with their sons. He uses biblical references throughout to back his points up. He also uses examples from his own life to drive the points home. Some of the material is a challenge, but one that as fathers we need to step up and do.

If you are a father with a son, this book is a must. Want your son to be a man, you have to show him how to be a man and you have to tell him when he is a man. This book will help.

It is hard to argue with 4000 years of history. This is a must read for any man with a son. King Me helps you to understand how important it is to validate your son and avoid making the same mistakes so many fathers do.

What a blessing to listen to these sermons of my brother in Christ Dr. King. Never throughout my life did I hear these. Why?

America, wake up!!! You are a great nation, because of the freedom bestowed upon us by none other than Jesus, the Messiah (Christ).

And those people, brought here as slaves (believe me I've heard it ad nauseam going through school, but just listen), have helped make us a great nation!

Now listen - we are ALL slaves - every one of us. To who? To ourselves!

If you think I'm a religious zealot - absolutely, freakin' not. I am a former slave, that's all. No more, no less. Saved by the blood of the Lamb. And now filled with the love of His Spirit, and loving my fellow man, regardless of color or background.

I look forward to meeting you in heaven Dr. King!

(Let's pray for Dr. King's constituents, that they would come to know the Lord, and love all, black and white, and gain God's strength as Dr. King did.... and keep loving one another, faults and all - 'cause we know we all got faults, but our hearts should be turned towards perfection! Thank you Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords!!!)

Simply phenomenal added dimension of Dr king that the general public who know him as an inspired civil rights leader must come to know. He was nspired, energized and directed by the word of Almighty God and conscience. Oh for leaders today to be likewise constituted.

The sermons in A Knock at Midnight are both deeply moving and a powerful reminder of the greatness of Dr. King. This collection should be read and heard by everyone, especially the young of today who have been fed a Dr. King who somehow only delivered one speech ("I Have a Dream"). As a middle school teacher I found the sermons to be an excellent way for my students to move beyond the platitudes about Dr. King to a much deeper understanding of his life and ministry. To read and listen to these great sermons is an absolutely wonderful experience, but at the same time a sad reminder that today we have no great voice of moral authority like his. Fortunately we do have his words and voice preserved for us and our children.

A fabulous collection of soul-stirring preaching by one of this century's finest preachers. Many people know King as a great political leader, fiery orator, and creative organizer. This collection of sermons will convince the world that King was first and foremost an anointed preacher. His sermons ring with authenticity and resound with relevancy. Kings messages speak profoundly to our troubled times and offer both prophetic insight and divine guidance as we attempt to find our way into the next millinium. This collection of sermons, with their superb introductions and commentaries, is perhaps one of the finest efforts of its kind. It will certainly be a source of pleasure and insight for generations to come.

Notice I refer to the cassettes and the companion book as an EXPERIENCE as I both listened to and read the REVEREND King! Although the media focused on the visible part of his ministry, the civil rights movement, his sermons are profound and awesome in their implications for today as well as their in their powerful delivery during the mid-1950's through 1960's. Although I will cherish both the cassette series and the book, it is through hearing the SPEAKING of Dr. King that really made me breathless! Thank you LORD God for sending us your messenger Dr. King to give us a wonderful earthly ministry for a brilliant and brief time (much like Jesus Christ). Simply awesome!

I walked into the library looking for a last minute book to read, and came across this book displayed in the young adult section and thought I should give it a go. I am SO happy I did! It was such a good book, and one that I didn't want to put down, wondering what was going to happen next. It did help that there were numerous Jennifer Aniston and "Friends" references, two of my favorite subjects!

Definitely would recommend it!!

Being a guy and not really connecting with the cover and the subject matter, I thought I'd get bored with this book half way through it. I was really surprised to see I wanted to know what happened to Meg from chapter to chapter. I didn't want to put the book down.

The writing is wonderful, the story is compelling and the characters are so very real that you will start to wish you knew Meg in person.

Though this book is clearly written for Woman, it has a big heart that anyone can connect with.

I loved Love, Meg because it kept taking me places I didn't expect. I didn't even expect to read it. I like adventure books. But my friend sent me the link, I heard the sample, and I bought it. Love, Meg is an adventure book.

First she crawls thru the wild world of Hollywood High. I laughed out loud ten times easy. I had just got what chic books were about when this big bomb goes off. A guy shows up and blows up everything Meg believes in. I wasn't laughing then, I was all into it. Then she starts all over again in another city-jungle, and goes hunting for .......You got to read that for yourself.

It would have been even better if an alien had climbed out of her Uncle's head or something, but when she gets the boyfriend that makes up for that. I was rooting for him under the boardwalk. There is another time when she's in an office talking to this business man when my heart was actually pounding in my chest, just like was happening to Meg. Nothing ever works out like I think in this book, and that includes the ending. I didn't see it coming. I was rooting for her boyfriend again then.

The next time I get a link to a chic book, I'm going to do the exact same thing. I'm going to listen to the sample. The rest.... I don't know.... but I highly recommend THIS book for both laughs, cool chic adventuring, and also I even got seriously into what happened to her and her family(s.) Go figure.

For as long as she can remember, Meg has been raised by her older sister. Lucie is the only family she has, and they move around quite often, but Meg's fairly well-adjusted for a fifteen-year-old. Even though she lacks long-term friends, she loves her sister and she has a pretty cool pen pal: actress Jennifer Aniston, who has been responding to Meg's letters for years.

Then the sisters move to Hollywood, where someone finds them and reveals the truth about their family - something Meg never suspected, something Lucie always hid, something that will change their lives forever.

C. Leigh Purtill's debut novel will appeal to teens, especially those who like to daydream, but might never admit to it. In fact, adults who remember writing fan letters to their idols will like it too. Though the main character in this story choose to write her letters to modern-day actress Jennifer Aniston, it's far less about the who and more about the what - that this character chooses to tell a stranger all about her personal life while keeping her real friends and family members at arm's length. That is very telling about her character, right from the start. Before the book is through, Meg grows up a little, both by chance and by choice, and she finally lets others into her life.

Meg Shanley has forever longed for a "normal" family. Big sister Lucie is the closest thing she's got - and Meg's life with Lucie is anything but normal. Flakey and irresponsible, Lucie flits around from job to job and town to town, dragging a hapless Meg with her. The only thing Meg has ever really been able to count on is her correspondence with the affable Jennifer Anniston. Because Jenn, unlike Lucie, is always there with the just-right advice, and has never let Meg down. Love, MEG is a stellar debut novel. C Leigh Purtill hits just the right notes, striking the perfect combination of love- and coming-of-age story. Every family has secrets, and every kid dreams of living a normal life. And as readers follow Meg Shanley through her journey, they will not only identify with her struggles, they will come love her warmth and authenticity.

My favorite part was when Jack and Annie figured out that the book they had was written by Slim Cooley.

This was a very great book, because it was a good story.

Annie & Jack find out that there's a rattlesnake in a ghost town and they have to hide from some people. And they find a piano that's playing all by itself. And we don't know what ...was playing it. It's a surprise for you, because you might find out. And I might find out too, because I have it at home. I have a lot of Magic Tree House books at my house. ...

My 1st grader hates to put it down, he would rather read Magic Tree House books, than play video games. He even reads them to his class and explains the story for show and tell. In his kindergarten class the teacher would also let him read the Magic Tree House books out loud, not to give her a break, but to promote reading out loud. Great books!

I'm a children's reading specialist and author (Teaching Kids To Read for Dummies). I use these books with kids who are really starting to take off with their reading and consistently get great feedback. Kids love the Magic Tree House series so if you're looking for great gifts or a bunch of books to keep your reader hooked, buy the lot.

The book where Jack and Annie are warped in Wild West and sees a ghost!